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Friday, May 27, 2005

GRINDING THE SESAME SEED

The Japanese call it ‘goma suri’, literally, grinding the sesame seeds.

In English, ‘polishing the apple’.

I am of course referring to the audacious headline ‘Japanese MPs Overwhelmed By M'sia's Success Story’.

It made my head turned, and had me hitting the keyboard in search of such breaking news in the Japanese media.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any pieces to validate that the Japanese MPs were indeed floored (or as Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary says, ‘overpowered in thought or feeling’) by our ‘success’.

Or perhaps I am just in the mood of being sardonic...

Porgib me...

Excerpts...

Japanese MPs Overwhelmed By M'sia's Success Story

From Mohd Fisol Jaafar

TOKYO, May 26 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ended his Tokyo visit today, meeting up with a group of Japanese parliamentarians, who were overwhelmed by Malaysia's success in managing its economy on the back of global uncertainties.

During the two-hour meeting, the MPs, who are members of the Japan-Malaysia Parliamentary Friendly League, led by former Minister of International Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma, were impressed with Malaysia's economic achievements, despite the world economic slowdown.